A Month of French Authors/Un Mois d’Auteurs Français

Few last names start with the letter Q and even less for French female authors, so today the one and only Serge Quadruppani plus a last minute surprise…

Born in 1952, Serge Quadruppani is a novelist, an activist who adds his voice against the excesses of capitalism, an essayist, an editor, and a translator for several contemporary Italian authors. He has also collaborated to Le Poulpe series with Jean-Bernard Pouy, the author for the letter P.

One of the quotes below, from one of Quadruppani’s novels, is about a cat and cats in general. The protagonist admits that even his beloved cat Manga, the only living creature allowed to access the second story of his home, cannot enter his room when he undresses. The reason, he says, is that these felines that quietly entered people’s lives several thousands years ago have in their eyes something he has never seen elsewhere.

I tend to agree. I think that more people favor dogs to cats because of cats’ knowing eyes. In any case, reading this quote gives me the opportunity to tell you a few cats’ stories and to introduce you to two special cats.

Unlike me who grew up in the country with cats, bunnies, lambs, and even a goat my husband was brought up in the Parisian suburbs and had never had a pet. The situation changed immediately when we moved in together. Our first cat was unfortunately sick and died very young of leukemia. Quickly after, close friends offered us a kitten from a healthy litter. Catmintosh followed us from Paris to California. Years later, we adopted Sugar, an adorable stray cat that jumped into my bag as I was helping in my son’s classroom. Sugar was meant to meet our family. And she was meant to be my youngest daughter’s very special friend. She was too young to have known Catmintosh and immediately fell for Sugar. The love was reciprocated as the cat adored my daughter too. Sugar’s brutal death (nature can be pitiless toward pets) was a real tragedy for my then seventh grader who refused another cat.

Now that my kids are living away from home, we don’t have any pets. Not having to find a pet sitter when my husband and I want to travel together is easier. But I never miss an opportunity to pet every cat I meet on my morning daily walk.

And I have the occasional treat to play with my second daughter’s adopted cats.

Tuck wearing her tuxedo

It took my daughter a lot of patience and care to feed these tiny creatures and moreover tons of love to gain their trust. Found without their mom at a few weeks old these cats had not benefited from the crucial maternal attention most kittens receive.

But this has changed, and now Tuck (from Tuxedo because of her white chest against her black coat) and Aly are playful and trusting one-year-old female cats.

Not really to replace our female French author du jour. But since many of my readers are also cats’ lovers and that many writers are too, I figured that today was a great day to introduce Tuck and Aly.

Downtime for Tuck after playing fetch (I swear she can do it as well as a dog)

Ha ha! Your dog is quite photogenic, so go ahead…
My daughter’s cats are much more beautiful in “person,” but I was visiting and had only my little iPhone with me. And the weather was overcast, so the light wasn’t that great.
I’m a cat person, so I was delighted to play with them and simply pet them. Cats have such a soft coat!

We have two tuxedo females. they are sisters who were abandoned to a farm. MiMi was very sick when we got them and the vet wasn’t sure she would make it. She still has some issues, but she’s a quiet, playful 10 yr-old little girl. Her sister MuMu is shy most of the time but loud when she wants attention.

Your cats are adorable, Dan! Their names are pretty cool too. I didn’t know they were abandoned too. My daughter was told that hers were found in rural Pennsylvania without their mother. They were more than two kittens. She could only take two.
In any case, I remember you suggesting once that posting a photo of cat was always a good idea since they are so popular on the web 🙂 So I thought they would replace the flowers for once. And compensate for the fact that I only found one author for the letter Q.

I love reading about cats. I have lived with cats all my life. I think there were maybe 5 years total when I/ my family did not have one.
I have a tuxedo cat now and had one from 6-23. I think they’re smarter than other cats. I believe you about the fetch, too 🙂